With only 0.47% of 1 million children in primary school, Alif Ailaan, an NGO has secured promises from 17 candidates to end the education emergency in Malakand division, according to a press release. The enrolment rate at the secondary level is even worse where only 14 per cent of children attend school. In five of the seven districts, secondary enrolment for girls is under seven per cent. One in three girls attends primary school in Swat, while one in five girls attends primary school in Shangla. Alif Ailaan Campaign Director Mosharraf Zaidi said, “While the responsibility of providing education rests with the government, the duty of relentlessly demanding it rests with parents. He has called on residents of Malakand to vote for candidates committed to improving the state of education and arrest the decreasing enrolment rate in the area.

Plan To Enhance Enrolment In Karak Schools : KARAK, April 5: Education department and National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) have devised a strategy to enhance the enrollment in state-run educational institutions in the district.

Swabi College Short Of Teachers, Facilities: SWABI, April 5: The Shewa postgraduate college has been facing numerous problems, including shortage of teachers for key subjects, which have put the future of students at stake.

Tuition CultureSir: There seems to be an exponential rise in the number of students taking after-school tuitions for various subjects. Schools seem to have just become a registration portal for board examinations, whereas tuition centers have taken up the role of schools and are quite successful in producing students who achieve good grades. The student population is at the receiving end of this culture of tuitions as they are missing out on various extra-curricular activities and a healthy social life. From the teachers’ perspective, they are often not paid an adequate salary to maintain a satisfactory lifestyle and, hence, opt for teaching tuitions after school to generate more income. For this reason, they often lower their standards of teaching in school to ensure that more students come to them for tuitions. As stated previously, students are victims of this tuition culture because they are missing out on the enjoyable aspects of school life, which, in turn, is damaging their social development. The key to discourage this culture is for schools to respect the dignity of the teaching profession and pay teachers respectable salaries, as well as parents and society at large putting a little less emphasis on achieving excellent grades and a bit more on developing well-rounded individuals.Complete Story: http://epapers.com.pk/ePaper/Daily-Times/2

Non-Distribution Of Free Text Books Irks Students

RAWALPINDI: Teachers, students and their parents have strongly protested against non distribution of free books to the students, despite the new academic year in all government schools of district Rawalpindi.

LAHORE: Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi has said that education is the sole key to progress and prosperity of the country and the nation. According to a handout issued here on Saturday, CM said that poverty and unemployment could be overcome by promoting education.

Around 40 students will not be allowed to take their theory papers of the matriculation exams. The decision was made following a court order against accepting examination forms two days before the exams.

Social Change Through EducationThe PML-N Plans A National Literacy Movement To Promote Education By Waqar Gillani

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, in its manifesto for general elections 2013, has identified educations sector as one of the top areas where fundamental and structural reforms are required. Tax reforms will ultimately lead to more tax collection that will ensure more investment in education, health, housing and infrastructure projects, it believes.

Torghar, Kohistan Lots Of Scholarships, But Few Students In Schools By Mohammad Ashfaq

PESHAWAR, April 6: A bulk of monthly scholarships for girl students from grade-6 to grade-10 in Kohistan and Torghar districts are likely to lapse as the two remote and backward areas together have only 311 girls enrolled in schools. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had approved 1,250 scholarships for girl students of grade-6 to grade-10 of Torghar district, where presently only 83 students are enrolled.

KARACHI, April 6: With security fears looming large across the city, more than 300,000 students will take secondary school certificate (SSC) annual exams from Monday amid what security officials, school owners and the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) management described as the most volatile circumstances in the history of Karachi.

KAMAL Khan Lakhan in Ghotki is a beautiful village comprising about a 100 cemented houses. Having sweet underground water, the village is surrounded by strips of fertile lands producing the best crops. The village is connected with the National Highway from two sides with two roads and is hardly at a distance of a few kilometers from Ghotki.Regretfully, this village has no school. Over 200 children are deprived of education which is their basic right. The villagers themselves have reserved a piece of land for school and have time and again approached the authorities for posting teachers. But their efforts have not materialized so far. The villagers are worried about the future of their children. The government is requested to take note of the deprivation of the children and post some teachers to start schooling.Complete Story: http://epaper.dawn.com/~epaper/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=08_04_2013_006_007

Public, Private Schools Lack Basic Fire Safety Equipment By Athesham AzharKARACHI: Neglecting the several arson incidents that claimed precious human lives and property in the months gone by, the absence of fire safety system in schools, both public and private, questions government's claims in providing all-out security to children.

PESHAWAR: Provincial President of Jamaat-e-Islami Prof Mohammad Ibraheem Khan has urged the caretaker provincial government to immediately stop publication of the new English book for secondary classes and reintroduce the old book. He said in the new book all the Islamic chapters have been replaced with Christian and Hindu literature and it was unacceptable for the Islam-loving people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjacent tribal belt.

It’s rather late in the day to be talking about manifestos of the mainstream political parties. Or is it? Was there a better time to review the manifestos than this? Do party manifestos matter for the followers or, say, the swing voters?

According to the study released by Gillani Foundation on Corporal Punishment and carried out by GALLUP Pakistan in rural & urban area. The question asked was “Has your child complained about his/her teacher beating him/her. 69% Parents did not receive any complaint from their children, 63% said the children suffered injuries after being tortured by their teachers, 26% said the child’s hand got broken and most of the corporal punishment is being done in KPK.